The invention refers to a device provided to seal slot-shaped openings for the passing-through of operating levers which are supported in a pivoting manner on one plane and are either actuated by hand or by foot and which features sealing elements, one of them assigned to each opening. The individual sealing element features sealing lips which extend along the opening, which are closely arranged side by side, and which are made of flexible material.
A device of the above-mentioned kind became known by the German DOS No. 2328 952. In the case of this known device several sealing lips are arranged at a distance one beneath the other, whereby between the adjacent sealing lips clearances of groove-type design are located, which are provided to accommodate a sound-absorbing material. In a preferred embodiment of the known device the facing sealing lips of the two sealing elements can feature a meshing toothing. The expenditure to manufacture this known sealing device is comparatively high, since a complete sound-absorbing kit must be produced for which the required installation space, e.g. in a vehicle, must be provided. Furthermore, despite of the soft-rubber-type sealing lips one is still confronted by the disadvantage that directly in front of and behind the operating levers and between the sealing lips a slot remains open, which is mainly of triangular shape, and through which a noise emission is possible. Furthermore, this also applies to the total length of the opening if in course of time the sealing lips are worn or bulged.
The invention is based on the objective of providing a device of the initially mentioned kind which serves to close the slot-shaped openings. By its uncomplicated and reasonable design subject device renders possible an easy adjusting of the operating lever in said opening, however, it largely seals these openings against noise emission. According to the invention this problem is solved thereby that the sealing lips feature reinforced rims at their free ends, which are encased according to the zip-type principle by a closing element arranged in the vicinity of the operating lever. According to the invention an uncomplicated and space-saving device is achieved which is easy to operate, however, by means of which the slot-type openings can be kept closed. Due to the specific arrangement of the closing element and by interaction with said rims it is possible to open same so that the operating lever can be shifted into any desired position within the opening without any particular efforts. Therefore, in the case of an embodiment according to the invention a device is obtained on which the opening is opened and closed simultaneously so that a so far unknown excellent method of sealing is obtained.
In an expedient embodiment of the invention the closing element is of C-shaped cross section. By this embodiment a particularly simple design is achieved which renders it possible to encircle the rims of the sealing lips.
Furthermore, it is of advantage if the closing element in its center section features a guide opening for the passing-through of the operating lever. In the case of such an embodiment the operating lever is centrally arranged in the closing element and in this case it is easy to lead said sealing element on arch-type or curve-type extending rims or sealing lips respectively, whereby the operating lever performs a relative movement inside the guide opening.
The closing element can be manufactured of one piece and can feature a bulgy center section. Such a design renders possible that the sealing element can be guided on rims, which extend either along a straight line or along a large curve.
The closing element can also be made of two identical sections, whereby each section preferably features a longitudinal groove, serving to accommodate the pertinent rims of the sealing lips. The two sections can be connected in a suitable manner, e.g. can be bolted to each other.
The opening and closing of the rims can be achieved particularly easily if the longitudinal grooves in the vicinity of the guide opening, provided for the operating lever, feature a center section, mainly extending parallel to the outer face of the section, which runs in longitudinal direction, and if they feature two end sections which are adjacent to said center section and run towards each other in direction of the front face.
In order to close the air passages located directly at the operating lever a further feature of the invention provides means according to which the sections represent in the individual end section a mainly triangular-shaped wedge-type member which at least extends into the longitudinal grooves of the other sections. This design closes in a comparatively uncomplicated way the possibly still remaining openings of triangular cross-section by the wedges provided on said sections. A closing element of such design can also be used in the case of increasingly bent, slot-type openings, e.g. tangent from a straight line and changing into a radiant. In this case it makes no difference if the center of the curvature of the slot-type openings is not identical with the center of rotation of the operating lever. In each case, thus in both, neutral position and adjusted operating lever, any escaping of air-borne sound is largely prevented by the triangular-shaped wedges.